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More Than 50 Years of the Final Four

By James EstrinApr. 1, 2011Apr. 1, 2011

Correction Appended | Rich Clarkson has been a pivotal figure in photojournalism for the last half-century. While he was the director of photography at The Topeka Capital-Journal in Kansas, his staff of photographers — which included Brian Lanker, Jim Richardson and David Alan Harvey — produced groundbreaking news and documentary photography. He was also assistant managing editor for graphics of The Denver Post and director of photography of The National Geographic Society.

On top of that, during his career, Mr. Clarkson has been photographing college basketball — in particular, the N.C.A.A. Final Four. His first taste of the N.C.A.A. finals was as a student at Kansas University in 1952, when his school won the championship. He covered the tournaments for Sports Illustrated from the 1970s through to the 1990s. And for the last decade, he and his company, Rich Clarkson and Associates, have photographed the Final Four on contract with the N.C.A.A.

In this audio slide show produced by James Estrin and Kerri MacDonald, Mr. Clarkson discusses a lifetime photographing the N.C.A.A. tournament.

Correction

An earlier version of this post stated that Kansas won the N.C.A.A. tournament in 1953. Kansas won in 1952. The team was defeated the following year by Indiana.